How to convert AAC to MP3 on iPhone and iPad

Most AAC-to-MP3 apps on the App Store are free to download but lock bitrates above 128 kbps behind a subscription, inject ads between every conversion, or require you to create an account before you can start. Several upload your audio to a remote server, which means your voice memos, interview recordings, or unreleased tracks pass through someone else's infrastructure.

A browser-based converter side-steps all of that. Safari on iOS can decode AAC natively — it is the same audio engine that plays your music — and the MP3 encoding happens in a Web Worker running JavaScript on your device. No upload, no subscription, every bitrate from 128 to 320 kbps is free, and the audio never leaves your phone.

Voice Memos is the most common source of AAC files on iPhone. Every recording it makes is a .m4a file — AAC audio in an MP4 container. To get it into the converter:

1. Open Voice Memos, find the recording, and tap the three-dot menu (···).
2. Tap Save to Files and choose a folder (On My iPhone or iCloud Drive both work).
3. Switch to Safari, open the converter, tap Choose AAC files, and select the file you just saved.
4. Set the bitrate to 128 kbps — plenty for speech, and it keeps the MP3 about half the size of the original. Tap Download MP3.

The MP3 lands in Safari's Downloads folder (inside the Files app). From there you can share it via Messages, email, AirDrop, or any cloud service.

Songs purchased from the iTunes Store are DRM-free .m4a files at 256 kbps AAC. If you have downloaded them to your iPhone (Settings > Music > Downloaded Music), you can find them in the Files app under the Music folder, or export them using the Share sheet from the Music app.

Apple Music streaming tracks are a different story — they are DRM-protected and cannot be converted by any tool, browser-based or otherwise. If a file fails to convert, it is most likely a protected stream rather than a purchased track.

For purchased .m4a music, use 256 or 320 kbps to preserve quality. The source is already 256 kbps AAC, so matching or exceeding that bitrate in MP3 keeps the loss inaudible. See the quality-loss guide for a deeper breakdown of bitrate selection.

Safari saves downloads to the Downloads folder in the Files app. You can check or change this path in Settings > Apps > Safari > Downloads. Options are iCloud Drive (syncs to your Mac), On My iPhone (local only), or a custom folder.

Once the MP3 is in Files, you can:

• Play it — tap the file and iOS opens it in a quick-look player, or import it into any third-party music app.
• Share it — AirDrop to a Mac, attach to an email, send via Messages, or upload to Google Drive or Dropbox.
• Sync it — if you saved to iCloud Drive, the MP3 appears on every Apple device signed into the same account.

The converter works identically on iPad, but iPadOS gives you a couple of extras:

• Drag and drop in Split View. Open the Files app on one side and Safari on the other. Drag .m4a or .aac files straight onto the converter's drop zone — no file picker needed.
• Keyboard shortcuts. If you use an external keyboard, the normal Safari shortcuts work — ⌘L to jump to the address bar, ⌘T for a new tab — and the converter is fully keyboard-accessible.

Because the conversion runs entirely on your device, it does not matter whether you are on Wi-Fi, cellular, or have no connection at all. Load the page once, and you can convert files even in airplane mode. This also means converting a large audiobook chapter is just as fast on a slow connection — the file never leaves your phone, so network speed is irrelevant.

For a full comparison of how AAC and MP3 handle audio differently, read the AAC vs MP3 comparison.